Is this a head space issue?

[Dr. Matt]

First big post on this forum. Thanks in advance for your help. I'm shooting the Unitah bolt action AR upper with the wylde 223/5.56 chamber.
The brass is once fired Aguila trimmed to 1.758. It was annealed then cleaned with walnut media. The primer pocket and flash hole were cleaned up. It
Decapped, full length resized, neck tension set with an expander mandrel then chamfered. The stripped bolt had no resistance when closing and when I put some tape on the base I could feel some resistance. ( Cortina method)
I shot 65 rounds finding the node for the powder charge. The sweet spot is 22.0 grains of Benchmark. I get 2729 fps ES of 73 and SD of 29.9. Not great but ok for this novice for now. I'm Shooting 62 grain Hornady ELD -VT. The Ogive is 0.030 off the lanz. I have had no over pressure indications until I set it .003 off the lanz and this happened. Is this a head space issue, overpressure, cheap brass, loose nut behind the butt? Thanks again for constructive criticism.

 

[bozo699]

First big post on this forum. Thanks in advance for your help. I'm shooting the Unitah bolt action AR upper with the wylde 223/5.56 chamber.
The brass is once fired Aguila trimmed to 1.758. It was annealed then cleaned with walnut media. The primer pocket and flash hole were cleaned up. It
Decapped, full length resized, neck tension set with an expander mandrel then chamfered. The stripped bolt had no resistance when closing and when I put some tape on the base I could feel some resistance. ( Cortina method)
I shot 65 rounds finding the node for the powder charge. The sweet spot is 22.0 grains of Benchmark. I get 2729 fps ES of 73 and SD of 29.9. Not great but ok for this novice for now. I'm Shooting 62 grain Hornady ELD -VT. The Ogive is 0.030 off the lanz. I have had no over pressure indications until I set it .003 off the lanz and this happened. Is this a head space issue, overpressure, cheap brass, loose nut behind the butt? Thanks again for constructive criticism.

For some reason I can’t focus it good enough to see well. Does it have a cratered primer? I’d the neck sooty? Or is it something the problem I can’t see ?
Wayne

 

[Dr. Matt]

For some reason I can’t focus it good enough to see well. Does it have a cratered primer? I’d the neck sooty? Or is it something the problem I can’t see ?
Wayne

The primer looks good to me but I was looking for opinions. I'll post a better picture.

 

[Dr. Matt]

Here are 5 of the 6 from the group.

 

[jelenko]

To me, it looks like the primer is really flat.
ETA. Those primers all look fine. Must have been the pic in first post.

 

[JEFFPPC]

If your looking at the rings around the brass it looks like a die problem. Maybe dirty or lacking proper lube. That's all I see.

 

[bozo699]

The primer looks good to me but I was looking for opinions. I'll post a better picture.

What is it your questioning then?
Wayne

 

[DShortt]

The neck looks fine to me. Your firing pin hole is probably a tad oversized but I'd not fret over it unless you have other primers that are worse or if it gets worse in the future with use.

I didn't check your load data so the above applies to a safe load only.

 

[AlNyhus]

Have you checked the amount of firing pin protrussion?

 

[bozo699]

Here are 5 of the 6 from the group.

I can see the case on the far left pretty clearly and it does look very flat as Jelenko pointed out
Wayne

 

[Dr. Matt]

What is it your questioning then?
Wayne

Sorry, it's the lines on the case.

 

[SeabeeKen]

Sorry, it's the lines on the case.

No worries. If you bore scope the chamber I think you will see what caused those lines. I see no problems.

BTW, My 250ai chamber leaves far worse lines than that. Almost sent the barrel back but I was able to clean it up.

 

[Dr. Matt]

The neck looks fine to me. Your firing pin hole is probably a tad oversized but I'd not fret over it unless you have other primers that are worse or if it gets worse in the future with use.

I didn't check your load data so the above applies to a safe load only.

Thanks. I'm under the max load based on data in lee, Hornady and nosler.

 

[Bill K]

That primer too me, is showing high pressure, it looks pretty flat. I would back of at least 1/2 grain and see if the clears it up.
Headspace issue usually shows with a line near the lower portion of the brass which indicates a impending case separation.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

What primer are you loading?

 

[K22]

Sorry, it's the lines on the case.

Those lines appear to be from the chamber, not incipient case head separation, at least I never saw incipient case head separation that appeared that way.

Do the paper clip test, it's fairly reliable detecting thinning ahead of the case head.

 

[243winxb]

Look at chamber first. Not headspace issue.

Fire some factory ammo, are lines still there?

Reduce load. Does that help. Call Hornady for load data on that NEW bullet.

 

[David Christian]

Look at chamber first. Not headspace issue.

Fire some factory ammo, are lines still there?

Reduce load. Does that help. Call Hornady for load data on that NEW bullet.
View attachment 1544234

Those lines look like they could be coming from a rough cambering. Do you have access to a Teslong?

 

[Dr. Matt]

Those lines look like they could be coming from a rough cambering. Do you have access to a Teslong?

I will have one by next weekend.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Nothing to worry about that I can see.